Drawing the Lines Draw a straight line by not drawing a straight line.To it veers too much in one direction,you can adjust it in the draw a straight line,it is helpful to think of riding a bicycle. other direction.Secondly,a vibrating line gives the optical When children first learn to ride a bicycle,their arms swing illusion that the line is straighter than it appears the handlebars back and forth as they compensate and adjust their balance.At first,the wheel turns wildly back Move your pencil and hand,not your whole arm.When and forth in order to move in a straight line without tipping drawing,draw like you write.Rest your hand on the page over.Slowly after much practice,the back and forth motion and draw lines that are the extent of your hand's movement. diminishes and,seemingly,stops.Yet,when you think When you want a longer line,pick up and plant your hand about it,the constant back and forth adjustments continue farther down the line and begin again. if imperceptibly.Imagine for a moment to lock your arms and the handlebar so that the wheel does not turn.You Guidelines,massing lines,contour lines and surface lines. know that in a few seconds,the bike and yourself would be Develop your drawing by first only using guidelines.These on the ground.Even professional bicyclists move their guidelines are light lines that mark out the overall drawing. handlebars back and forth like a child.You just can't see it. When the overall form is established,then add different Likewise,when drawing a line,it is helpful to maintain a line types and weights.Likewise,begin to develop a line straight line by wiggling or vibrating the line.Such a line is vocabulary of different line types using varied pencils,pens more of a high-pitched vibration akin to a vibrating mobile or other media.Let the lines develop from light to dark, phone or an electric toothbrush.This has two results.First, tapering,dashed,dotted,etc.Let the lines begin to help by vibrating the line adjusts so that it can move straight.If map,shape and form. 24
24 Draw a straight line by not drawing a straight line. To draw a straight line, it is helpful to think of riding a bicycle. When children first learn to ride a bicycle, their arms swing the handlebars back and forth as they compensate and adjust their balance. At first, the wheel turns wildly back and forth in order to move in a straight line without tipping over. Slowly after much practice, the back and forth motion diminishes and, seemingly, stops. Yet, when you think about it, the constant back and forth adjustments continue if imperceptibly. Imagine for a moment to lock your arms and the handlebar so that the wheel does not turn. You know that in a few seconds, the bike and yourself would be on the ground. Even professional bicyclists move their handlebars back and forth like a child. You just can’t see it. Likewise, when drawing a line, it is helpful to maintain a straight line by wiggling or vibrating the line. Such a line is more of a high-pitched vibration akin to a vibrating mobile phone or an electric toothbrush. This has two results. First, by vibrating the line adjusts so that it can move straight. If it veers too much in one direction, you can adjust it in the other direction. Secondly, a vibrating line gives the optical illusion that the line is straighter than it appears. Move your pencil and hand, not your whole arm. When drawing, draw like you write. Rest your hand on the page and draw lines that are the extent of your hand’s movement. When you want a longer line, pick up and plant your hand farther down the line and begin again. Guidelines, massing lines, contour lines and surface lines. Develop your drawing by first only using guidelines. These guidelines are light lines that mark out the overall drawing. When the overall form is established, then add different line types and weights. Likewise, begin to develop a line vocabulary of different line types using varied pencils, pens or other media. Let the lines develop from light to dark, tapering, dashed, dotted, etc. Let the lines begin to help map, shape and form. Drawing the Lines 008-057_DD_part_0-1_final.indd 24 24.09.12 16:13
WHAT TO USE AND HOW TO USE IT Start and stop the lines.Begin and end the line with a Practice swimming by swimming.Sometimes there is a forward and backward stroke.This is done for two reasons tendency to make a series of tentative and scratchy lines so First,the strong beginning and end is an optical illusion in that one day you can make one long line.This fallacy is which the line appears more solid on the page.The line similar to learning to swim by slowly moving one leg for a appears to have a definitiveness.Second,and slightly day,then another leg the next day,followed by a hand in related,a definitive beginning and ending is a way to make the water the day after that and so on.The best way to a definitive mark,if only for this particular study,that the learn a particular swimming stroke is to get into the water, line begins here and ends there.There is no weakness or with someone to help mind you,and do that stroke frailty.The line is strong and distinct-for at least that Likewise,when drawing,it is best to draw in order to draw drawing.Subsequent drawings have their own beginnings Draw complete lines.At first it may be inelegant,but and endings. eventually (and usually quickly if practiced correctly),lines become beautiful and second nature. Cross corners.When two or more lines meet,cross them slightly.This is an optical illusion that makes the corners, Top:Varied line weights and tones and the drawing overall,for lack of a better word,more Opposite page: used to diagram a facade substantial.When the lines do not cross,your eyes will Top:Wiggly lines,guidelines with Bottom left:Drawing is like writing automatically connect them,with the result that the textures and tones with a pencil connections are weak and rounded.When they cross ever so slightly,the corners are emphasized and solidified. tomle Bottom:Varied line weights and Bottom right:Varied line weights and types in analysis(drawing by Gregory Pray) 25
25 Start and stop the lines. Begin and end the line with a forward and backward stroke. This is done for two reasons. First, the strong beginning and end is an optical illusion in which the line appears more solid on the page. The line appears to have a definitiveness. Second, and slightly related, a definitive beginning and ending is a way to make a definitive mark, if only for this particular study, that the line begins here and ends there. There is no weakness or frailty. The line is strong and distinct – for at least that drawing. Subsequent drawings have their own beginnings and endings. Cross corners. When two or more lines meet, cross them slightly. This is an optical illusion that makes the corners, and the drawing overall, for lack of a better word, more substantial. When the lines do not cross, your eyes will automatically connect them, with the result that the connections are weak and rounded. When they cross ever so slightly, the corners are emphasized and solidified. Practice swimming by swimming. Sometimes there is a tendency to make a series of tentative and scratchy lines so that one day you can make one long line. This fallacy is similar to learning to swim by slowly moving one leg for a day, then another leg the next day, followed by a hand in the water the day after that and so on. The best way to learn a particular swimming stroke is to get into the water, with someone to help mind you, and do that stroke. Likewise, when drawing, it is best to draw in order to draw. Draw complete lines. At first it may be inelegant, but eventually (and usually quickly if practiced correctly), lines become beautiful and second nature. WHAT TO USE AND HOW TO USE IT Opposite page: Top: Wiggly lines, guidelines with textures and tones Bottom: Varied line weights and types to make a hierarchical tartan grid Top: Varied line weights and tones used to diagram a façade Bottom left: Drawing is like writing with a pencil Bottom right: Varied line weights and types in analysis (drawing by Gregory Pray) 008-057_DD_part_0-1_final.indd 25 24.09.12 16:13
Building a Drawing A building is an assemblage of elements layered one on correctly proportioned bays,which in turn fit correctly another.Upon conceptual and physical foundations rest proportioned windows.If the overall form is out of propor- more complex frames that,in turn,support increasingly tion,each subsequent element necessarily will also be out detailed elements and ideas.The building materializes as a of proportion to make it fit. whole so that,in the end,the overall and the detail interlink Two ways to establish a framework and mapping the as a totality. proportions are using either a length of a pencil or pacing Likewise,when drawing at a site,it is helpful to start with out dimensions of a facade,an interior volume or an the framework and then allow the drawing to grow into a object.For the pencil technique,while holding a pencil complete entity.Developing out of a process,the drawing between your forefinger and thumb,fully extend your arm in turn reinforces the process of seeing layers and hierar- so that the distance from your nose to the pencil remains chies and of seeing the comprehensive interrelationship of constant.Look down your arm at your subject with your detail and whole. pencil in the foreground.Adjust your pencil's length as For more practical reasons,beginning with the overall needed to match an element on the facade,such as a bay proportions and then adding increasingly detailed informa- or floor height and let the pencil-to-thumb length be a tion helps ensure that the sketch fits on the page.Beginning standard unit of measurement. a drawing in an upper corner and working at all levels Count the number of units for verticals and horizontals and simultaneously toward a lower corner may result in a then convert and transfer those units and their multiples to drawing that,if finished,is off the page's edge.Additionally. a unit on your page.Continue to adjust your pencil-to- a correctly proportioned facade is more likely to support thumb length for smaller elements as needed.You can also 26
26 A building is an assemblage of elements layered one on another. Upon conceptual and physical foundations rest more complex frames that, in turn, support increasingly detailed elements and ideas. The building materializes as a whole so that, in the end, the overall and the detail interlink as a totality. Likewise, when drawing at a site, it is helpful to start with the framework and then allow the drawing to grow into a complete entity. Developing out of a process, the drawing in turn reinforces the process of seeing layers and hierarchies and of seeing the comprehensive interrelationship of detail and whole. For more practical reasons, beginning with the overall proportions and then adding increasingly detailed information helps ensure that the sketch fits on the page. Beginning a drawing in an upper corner and working at all levels simultaneously toward a lower corner may result in a drawing that, if finished, is off the page’s edge. Additionally, a correctly proportioned façade is more likely to support correctly proportioned bays, which in turn fit correctly proportioned windows. If the overall form is out of proportion, each subsequent element necessarily will also be out of proportion to make it fit. Two ways to establish a framework and mapping the proportions are using either a length of a pencil or pacing out dimensions of a façade, an interior volume or an object. For the pencil technique, while holding a pencil between your forefinger and thumb, fully extend your arm so that the distance from your nose to the pencil remains constant. Look down your arm at your subject with your pencil in the foreground. Adjust your pencil’s length as needed to match an element on the façade, such as a bay or floor height and let the pencil-to-thumb length be a standard unit of measurement. Count the number of units for verticals and horizontals and then convert and transfer those units and their multiples to a unit on your page. Continue to adjust your pencil-tothumb length for smaller elements as needed. You can also Building a Drawing 008-057_DD_part_0-1_final.indd 26 24.09.12 16:13
WHAT TO USE AND HOW TO USE IT establish overall proportions by pacing off a room's width and length or a building's length.Make normal steps and count them out.Note the overall number and,most importantly,the number at significant moments,for example the column bays or changes in material.Transfer the number of steps to units on your page as in the pencil technique.For example,a courtyard may be 30 steps by 45 steps,with colonnades five steps on all sides.Those units, 35x45 with five on each side,can then be drawn to a scale so that the drawing fits on the page. Draw the larger framework to its complete extent,using only guidelines while noting significant subdivisions.With these guidelines in place,begin to slowly but steadily overlay increasingly detailed information.Even if you do Top:Using a pencil to find not complete all of the detail,you will have the overall idea proportions of the building firmly established. Opposite page: Bottom left:Underlying guidelines Drawing of Palazzo Chiericati, to draw the interior volumes Vicenza,Italy,scanned at six (drawing by Fred Scharmen) different stages from guidelines Bottom right:Pacing out a room's to finished drawing or square's proportions 27
27 establish overall proportions by pacing off a room’s width and length or a building’s length. Make normal steps and count them out. Note the overall number and, most importantly, the number at significant moments, for example the column bays or changes in material. Transfer the number of steps to units on your page as in the pencil technique. For example, a courtyard may be 30 steps by 45 steps, with colonnades five steps on all sides. Those units, 35 x 45 with five on each side, can then be drawn to a scale so that the drawing fits on the page. Draw the larger framework to its complete extent, using only guidelines while noting significant subdivisions. With these guidelines in place, begin to slowly but steadily overlay increasingly detailed information. Even if you do not complete all of the detail, you will have the overall idea of the building firmly established. WHAT TO USE AND HOW TO USE IT Opposite page: Drawing of Palazzo Chiericati, Vicenza, Italy, scanned at six different stages from guidelines to finished drawing Top: Using a pencil to find proportions Bottom left: Underlying guidelines to draw the interior volumes (drawing by Fred Scharmen) Bottom right: Pacing out a room’s or square’s proportions 008-057_DD_part_0-1_final.indd 27 24.09.12 16:13
Sketching as a Bodily Skill "Drawing for me is a fundamental act of an architectural Sketching is rooted in the fundamental animal instinct to thought process.Drawing is in part a mnemonic device,a explore and manipulate the world with gangly extremities. visual diary.However,because of the intrinsic reciprocity From amoebae to homo sapiens,curious pseudopods, between mind and act,drawing goes beyond simple appendages and limbs reach out,grasp and manipulate information.It fixes in our inner experience what we have the "world"to understand it,to move through it,to seen.As an essential part of the conception of transform it(and often to eat it).While most animals architecture,as well as of painting and sculpture,it is also manipulate the world to satisfy more immediate primal conjectural or speculative in nature and therefore exists at needs,humans grasp and maneuver to explore and the heart of the creative process. speculate on the unknown.As our hands explore,our minds develop.This mutual development of hand and Michael Graves mind,of the physical and intellectual,propelled human- kind forward to speculate and manipulate with unique agility.It is no accident that our hands,which are the most sophisticated among the primates,are paired with minds capable of sophisticated cognition.The hand-mind participated and continue to participate in mutual devel- opment.In his book,The Hand:How Its Use Shapes the Brain,Language,and Human Culture,neurologist Frank Wilson analyzes the human hand and its role in cognitive development.Wilson contends that we do a disservice to the hand and the mind (and the concept of humanity's uniqueness)if we bifurcate the hand from the mind.For him,the hand-its evolution,form and abilities-is essential to human identity.He asserts that this link and its influence on human development is so significant "that any theory of human intelligence which ignores the interde- pendence of the human hand and brain function,the historic origins of that relationship,or the impact of that history on developmental dynamics in modern humans,is grossly misleading and sterile".5 Similarly,a sketch,in which our hand and mind scratch, mark and otherwise explore through graphic and semiotic representations,is an essential part of who we are and what we hope to be.Training the hand and the eye to locate and perceive objects is an interlinked learning process between the mind and body that develop spatial knowledge:"the brain teaches itself to synthesize visual and tactile perceptions by making the hand and eye learn to work together."6 Spatial knowledge,the ability to both mentally and graphically retrace and demarcate paths and spaces,to estimate dimension and to comprehend orientation and direction,is essential to developing three-dimensional thinking not only in varied professions but in daily life.Grasping and reaching are inextricably linked to our cognitive development in which we observe and react to both representations and physical experiences and to developing semantic processing systems concerned with "manipulating,identifying or transforming objects".7 Sketching is a type of drawing used to process information succinctly and,as such,it is in the same echelon as speaking,grasping and walking:it both affects and effects our thinking.Who we are,as human beings,has a great deal to do with the fact that we can speak complex languages,walk upright,grasp and use both delicate and coarse objects and communicate with visual representa- tional systems.Likewise,it makes sense that any education, especially a design eduction,reinforces the hand-mind 28
28 Sketching as a Bodily Skill “Drawing for me is a fundamental act of an architectural thought process. Drawing is in part a mnemonic device, a visual diary. However, because of the intrinsic reciprocity between mind and act, drawing goes beyond simple information. It fixes in our inner experience what we have seen. As an essential part of the conception of architecture, as well as of painting and sculpture, it is also conjectural or speculative in nature and therefore exists at the heart of the creative process.” Michael Graves4 Sketching is rooted in the fundamental animal instinct to explore and manipulate the world with gangly extremities: From amoebae to homo sapiens, curious pseudopods, appendages and limbs reach out, grasp and manipulate the “world” to understand it, to move through it, to transform it (and often to eat it). While most animals manipulate the world to satisfy more immediate primal needs, humans grasp and maneuver to explore and speculate on the unknown. As our hands explore, our minds develop. This mutual development of hand and mind, of the physical and intellectual, propelled humankind forward to speculate and manipulate with unique agility. It is no accident that our hands, which are the most sophisticated among the primates, are paired with minds capable of sophisticated cognition. The hand-mind participated and continue to participate in mutual development. In his book, The Hand: How Its Use Shapes the Brain, Language, and Human Culture, neurologist Frank Wilson analyzes the human hand and its role in cognitive development. Wilson contends that we do a disservice to the hand and the mind (and the concept of humanity’s uniqueness) if we bifurcate the hand from the mind. For him, the hand – its evolution, form and abilities – is essential to human identity. He asserts that this link and its influence on human development is so significant “that any theory of human intelligence which ignores the interdependence of the human hand and brain function, the historic origins of that relationship, or the impact of that history on developmental dynamics in modern humans, is grossly misleading and sterile”.5 Similarly, a sketch, in which our hand and mind scratch, mark and otherwise explore through graphic and semiotic representations, is an essential part of who we are and what we hope to be. Training the hand and the eye to locate and perceive objects is an interlinked learning process between the mind and body that develop spatial knowledge: “the brain teaches itself to synthesize visual and tactile perceptions by making the hand and eye learn to work together.”6 Spatial knowledge, the ability to both mentally and graphically retrace and demarcate paths and spaces, to estimate dimension and to comprehend orientation and direction, is essential to developing three-dimensional thinking not only in varied professions but in daily life. Grasping and reaching are inextricably linked to our cognitive development in which we observe and react to both representations and physical experiences and to developing semantic processing systems concerned with “manipulating, identifying or transforming objects”.7 Sketching is a type of drawing used to process information succinctly and, as such, it is in the same echelon as speaking, grasping and walking: it both affects and effects our thinking. Who we are, as human beings, has a great deal to do with the fact that we can speak complex languages, walk upright, grasp and use both delicate and coarse objects and communicate with visual representational systems. Likewise, it makes sense that any education, especially a design eduction, reinforces the hand-mind 008-057_DD_part_0-1_final.indd 28 24.09.12 16:13